By Chris Jones - 11th October 2005
Europe’s budget deadlock threatens vital development aid for Africa, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso has warned.
Pressure is growing on the British EU presidency to broker an agreement on future European spending for 2007 to 2013.
Talks on Brussels budgets broke down in June amid bitter fighting over cash rebates, farm subsidies and the EU cost burden.
EU leaders agreed in June to boost aid to Africa by two-thirds - from €17 billion in 2003 to €25 billion in 2010.
But a failure to agree future budgets would make that pledge all but impossible, Barroso insisted on Wednesday.
“We have agreed a new raft of measures to increase European assistance to our neighbours in Africa. But these measures need to be properly funded, and that is why we need an agreement on the EU budget by the end of the year.”
“I insist on this point. Without this agreement, we will not be able to honour our commitments to our African neighbours,” he said.
“We will not be able to transform our promises into reality, such as funding to fight the spread of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.”
“An agreement on the budget is not just be good for Europe – it is good, necessary and urgent for the future of EU-Africa relations.”
The commission president’s emotive appeal may strike a chord with UK leader Tony Blair, who has made African debt relief something of a personal campaign.
Blair, along with French, Dutch and Swedish leaders, was blamed for failure to agree on the EU budget for 2007-2013 at a summit of heads of state and government in June.
His insistence that Brussels reduce subsidies to European agriculture put him at loggerheads with French President Jacques Chirac, whose farmers are the biggest recipients of EU aid.
But with Britain currently holding the EU’s six-month rotating presidency, the pressure is now on the UK premier to find a solution.
A recent decision to cut the length of the summit of heads of state and government later this month from two days to one – leaving little or no time for budgetary negotiations – does not augur well, however.
Verheugen sees progress
European Commission Vice-President Günter Verheugen also added his voice to those calling for a quick budget agreement.
Launching a new commission initiative to stimulate research and innovation amid stagnating investment from businesses, he argued Europe needed to “put its money where its mouth is”.
“How can we expect European industry to increase its investment in innovation if we cannot back up our own promises to lift EU spending?”
“That is why we need an agreement on the EU budget.”
But he stressed that he expected the UK to “begin new talks very soon”.
The uncertainty over the budget meant that the strategy outlined by Verheugen and research commissioner Janez Potocnik contained little that was new or concrete.
Of the 19 measures announced by the two commissioners, several were existing initiatives such as improving financing to small businesses, while others were renewed calls for national governments approve commission proposals.
Others merely involved encouraging member states to “consider new ways for promoting innovative services”.
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